MAPLE (modular automated platform for large-scale experiments), a robot for integrated organism-handling and phenotyping.

Tom Alisch,Benjamin L de Bivort,James D Crall,Dave Zucker,Albert B Kao

doi:10.7554/elife.37166

Tom Alisch, Benjamin L de Bivort + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.37166

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Abstract

Lab organisms are valuable in part because of large-scale experiments like screens, but performing such experiments over long time periods by hand is arduous and error-prone. Organism-handling robots could revolutionize large-scale experiments in the way that liquid-handling robots accelerated molecular biology. We developed a modular automated platform for large-scale experiments (MAPLE), an organism-handling robot capable of conducting lab tasks and experiments, and then deployed it to conduct common experiments in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Caenorhabditis elegans, Physarum polycephalum, Bombus impatiens, and Drosophila melanogaster. Focusing on fruit flies, we developed a suite of experimental modules that permitted the automated collection of virgin females and execution of an intricate and laborious social behavior experiment. We discovered that (1) pairs of flies exhibit persistent idiosyncrasies in social behavior, which (2) require olfaction and vision, and (3) social interaction network structure is stable over days. These diverse examples demonstrate MAPLE's versatility for automating experimental biology.

Highlights

Genetic model organisms are used to advance our biological understanding in numerous areas including disease and its treatment, basic cell biology, neuroscience and behavior
modular automated platform for large-scale experiments (MAPLE) (Figure 1, Figure 1—figure supplement 1A) was built using extruded aluminum rails to support x, y, and z-carriages mounted on linear rails in a Cartesian configuration
We employed the CoreXY system (Moyer, 2012), which reduces the mass of the moving part of the X/Y gantry by fixing the stepper motors on the frame. (for the speeds at which we run MAPLE, which are roughly 80% as fast as human hands conducting experiments (Video 1), mounting the y-axis stepper motor on the x-axis carriage would likely not reduce performance.)

Summary

Introduction

Genetic model organisms are used to advance our biological understanding in numerous areas including disease and its treatment, basic cell biology, neuroscience and behavior. Species like Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Caenorhabditis elegans, and Drosophila melanogaster are desirable lab model organisms due to their rapid reproduction, ease of rearing, and especially their deep genetic toolkits comprising strains with varying genotypes and transgenic alterations that permit rapid, mechanistic inquiries. To take advantage of these toolkits, screen experiments quantify the phenotypes of hundreds (Vitaterna et al, 1994), thousands (Kain et al, 2012), tens of thousands (Ayroles et al, 2015; Buchanan et al, 2015; Churgin et al, 2017) or even hundreds of thousands of individual animals (Robie et al, 2017).

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